Of all the strange ways to get buried in this world, the western tradition of burial may be the most bizarre. As opposed to many of the funeral rites observed elsewhere, our form of traditional burial – with its embalming fluids, caskets, liners, vaults and tombs – aims to preserve the body for as long as possible, with the express purpose, it would seem, of not returning it to nature. No ashes to ashes, dust to dust for a body pumped with formaldehyde and housed in a metal casket.